Mother cat aggressive to her older kittens - please help - can't be in the same room

Hi there
I just found your great forum when researching my cat problem - I hope hope you might be able to help.

We have 6 cats. We originally had two old cats and got a kitten which then went onto have kittens at about 14 months old. Temperamentally she is the sweetest cat, very vocal and affectionate, never aggressive. She got on well with our existing cats. When she had her kittens (4) she was a great mother, very attentive and tolerant, and it was a joy to watch her be with them. She weaned them with a little bit of aggression as we would have expected - chasing them off when they came to suckle. We found a home for 1 kitten and decided to keep the other 3 (1 female, 2 males), which are all extremely nice-natured young cats.

When the kittens were about 4 months old the mother started to be more aggressive towards them and now if she sees one within a few metres she will spit, hiss, growl and yowl angrily at it and even attack it. It is impossible to have all cats in the house at night as the mother will wake us and the kids up with her angry shouts! We had her spayed a few weeks ago (she was just pregnant again at the time - though the aggression towards the kittens would have started way before she was pregnant again) hoping that the aggression would calm down, but it hasn't. It is as bad as ever, though she has healed well from the op. The kittens are 5-6 months old. She is still sweet-natured towards people but goes crazy when she sees a kitten. She is fine with our other cats.

Can you please help regarding understanding what has caused this behaviour and what we can do about it? We would like to be able to help her to accept the kittens more.

Many thanks
Kitty Helen

If her kittens are not neutered/spayed yet, that's probably the reason with her actions.

I would separate them for awhile, get kittens spayed/neutered and then do introductions all over again - by that time she should be healed.

I agree. The kittens you kept need spayed/neutered ASAP.

BTW male and female kittens as young as 4-5 months old CAN and do mate - so if you have male/female you'd better be getting them done yesterday - or you will wind up with siblings breeding!

Thanks for your replies - we will certainly be getting them spayed/neutered. They aren't sexually active yet but they will be off to the vets next week! Thanks for that advice - we were advised to get them neutered at six months, which we were planning to do, in fact I didn't realise they could be done before six months

We aren't able to separate them unfortuntely as they are all free to roam house and outside. However we will keep the mother out at night and lock the cat flap so they have less contact. She is happy out at night at the moment anyway.

I am intrigued as to why she would attack them because they are un-neutered? She is the same with the males and female. If is nearly a month since her op and still no improvement. What is this behaviour about do you think?

I have had almost the exact same problem that KittyHelen has outlined - except that I only kept one of the four kittens (a female).  The mother - who is also very young (she gave birth at 15 months) was very protective to begin with and when the kitten got to about 6-7 months she started to show aggression.  I had her spayed not long after giving birth - unfortunately she was also pregnant with 2 more kittens at the time which were terminated as her pregnancy was only discovered during the operation.  Whilst my cat physically recovered, I think she is more moody since being spayed.

Her aggression towards the kitten used to come and go - they used to play together a lot - but over the past 3-4 months the mother has become more aggressive and the play has totally stopped.  It's really sad watching the little one who still follows her mother around.  I had the little one spayed at 13months.  She is still very timid and gentle.

I'm at a loss at what to do.  Is this normal behaviour for a mother to treat her daughter this way?  I have been putting it down to jealousy - but I'm not sure if it's that or simply feline nature.

Grateful for advice. 

Thats strange. Wouldnt neuter/spay calm a cat down? Usually?

Dont family members forget who they are related to, after the kittens have grown?

Does the mother thinks its another cat? Because its a cat eat cat world?

having exact same problem as everyone on this thread. Taking the two 7 month old kittens to get spayed on Thursday--hope that the mother will then calm down towards them. I HOPE SO, but it might not work, right? Or does it always work?

Sorry Kitty Helen no answers here. I am a newbie cat owner who took in a pregnant female (Cleo) in May. She had three lovely kittens and like yours was a lovely mother to them. Had cat and kittens spayed/neutered at 12 weeks. Cleo was still calling the kittens to her to wean up until 3/4 weeks after the op, then all of a sudden she is hissing and clawing at them when they come near. I knew she would eventually want them to stop feeding from her but didn't know it would be so aggressive.
So even though spaying/neutering is important at this stage, don't expect the behaviour to change right away. I suspect it might be natural, territorial behaviour and mummy cat re-asserting herself now that the kittens are getting bigger. I am hoping that with time my little cat family will settle down and be happy with each other again. The sooner the better.

This is an older thread but I thought I'd chime in. When the kittens are young the mother feels a need to protect them but as they get older aggression is common. There's several reasons for this. The older kittens are perfectly capable of fending for themselves and dont need her anymore. She's done her job and their a potential threat to the next litter because they consume resources that she'll need for the next round of kittens. There's also been some speculation that driving them off prevents inbreeding and that it might be an instinctual desire for a wider gene pool.

Neuturing has nothing to do with it. I had the same situation and after the two kittens were spayed there was NO CHANGE in the mother's hostile behavior, the kittens are now around 10 months old and she still is hostile to them, andhostile to me if she sees me being nice to the kittens. very sad.

Hello! I think i can help you all!  You see, my cat, who was always VERY  over-protective, loving, (she even nursed them WAY past time to the point she was bleeding over it!) has always been much like the great mother cat, recently started attacking them!. She has 5 kittens, who are 4 months old, and she has just started attacking them. [hissing, growling, clawing, jumping on, etc.]  If they are anywhere NEAR her, she strikes.  My family was angry at her and has over-and-over again been throwing her out the door because they think she has an "attitude". But i knew there had to be SOMETHING wrong, because i could see the agitation in her eyes, and the fear she had when everyone was aggressive to her, but then again, i was also worried about the kittens and her relationship.  

I had suspected she was reacting to external stimuli, as when she first moved in, being somewhat traumatized from her old environment, anything from a fridge door closing to a pencil dropping, would send her flying! It took weeks for her to finally trust us, after my brother spent some time with her. You see, this is how she acted when she first moved in. Well, my male cat mated with her, she had kittens. and etc. you get the gist. 

So i decided i had to take action before things got out of hand around here, so i did some research, and have come to find out that it's COMPLETELY normal for a mother cat, after her kittens are around 3-5 months old, to start acting hostile towards them, in an effort to teach them that their on their own and she won't be mothering them any longer (however, the other day i did see her grooming her baby boy a little when he walked by   )

I also read that, luckily, after some time, she SHOULD stop. Just hang in there, and give the mother-cat a second chance to perform her instincts. 

So anyways, i hope this helped, tata! 

Handy Manny said:

Hello! I think i can help you all!  You see, my cat, who was always VERY  over-protective, loving, (she even nursed them WAY past time to the point she was bleeding over it!) has always been much like the great mother cat, recently started attacking them!. She has 5 kittens, who are 4 months old, and she has just started attacking them. [hissing, growling, clawing, jumping on, etc.]  If they are anywhere NEAR her, she strikes.  My family was angry at her and has over-and-over again been throwing her out the door because they think she has an "attitude". But i knew there had to be SOMETHING wrong, because i could see the agitation in her eyes, and the fear she had when everyone was aggressive to her, but then again, i was also worried about the kittens and her relationship.  

I had suspected she was reacting to external stimuli, as when she first moved in, being somewhat traumatized from her old environment, anything from a fridge door closing to a pencil dropping, would send her flying! It took weeks for her to finally trust us, after my brother spent some time with her. You see, this is how she acted when she first moved in. Well, my male cat mated with her, she had kittens. and etc. you get the gist. 

So i decided i had to take action before things got out of hand around here, so i did some research, and have come to find out that it's COMPLETELY normal for a mother cat, after her kittens are around 3-5 months old, to start acting hostile towards them, in an effort to teach them that their on their own and she won't be mothering them any longer (however, the other day i did see her grooming her baby boy a little when he walked by   )

I also read that, luckily, after some time, she SHOULD stop. Just hang in there, and give the mother-cat a second chance to perform her instincts. 

So anyways, i hope this helped, tata! 

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Have you been able to get your cats spayed and neutered? If not, hormones will play a significant role here.

Hi - I am hoping ti bump this up to the top. Did the OP ever resolve her problem? Our mama cat is really agressive to her 9 month old kittens. They have all been spayed for months.

Ah I'm currently going through this with Ally she being a bully to all the other females and not afraid to smack the boys around either. Normally she not to mean with her babies but this last week she been picking on them. Some of it I believe is because Andi & Sierra have moved in. She settling in about them being here but still bulling her kittens. I'm going to give it some more time see if she settles down more they just turned 5 months.

Can somebody help me with my cat behavior?. The mother cat is being very aggressive to her kittens. I rescued her from my attic with her 2-week old litter 1 female and 2 male kittens. She was the sweetest mother cat to her kittens, very protective and will play them she just loved to lick her kittens to death, grab them with her arms and just squeeze them tight. In the meantime, I got her spayed when kitten were of 6 weeks and she chased them away for a week and then, everything went back to normal. when kittens were 6 months old, I took them in morning to the vet, and dropped them off to get spayed and neutered. When I came back she meowed so much to me asking for her babies/kittens. she will lie next to me and will rub her head and just mewing. In the evening, when I brought back her kittens after they got spayed, she just jumped to their pet-carrier to look for them with her tail just swinging. As soon as she smelled them, somehow, she got so annoyed, hostile and aggressive that she started hissing. I could not believe in just a moment that motherly love just transformed into an aggressive, hissing, attacking behavior. kittens will still go to her and she will chase them away. she lives in the same area as her kittens but does not want them near her. I need to know how I can help her to go back to her original motherly loving behavior towards her kittens. I have a 6 compartment feeding tray and they all eat from the same plate but the mother does not want t play with her kittens anymore. Please help. now kittens are 9 month old and are wonderful playful cats.

modlotus said:

Can somebody help me with my cat behavior?. The mother cat is being very aggressive to her kittens. I rescued her from my attic with her 2-week old litter 1 female and 2 male kittens. She was the sweetest mother cat to her kittens, very protective and will play them she just loved to lick her kittens to death, grab them with her arms and just squeeze them tight. In the meantime, I got her spayed when kitten were of 6 weeks and she chased them away for a week and then, everything went back to normal. when kittens were 6 months old, I took them in morning to the vet, and dropped them off to get spayed and neutered. When I came back she meowed so much to me asking for her babies/kittens. she will lie next to me and will rub her head and just mewing. In the evening, when I brought back her kittens after they got spayed, she just jumped to their pet-carrier to look for them with her tail just swinging. As soon as she smelled them, somehow, she got so annoyed, hostile and aggressive that she started hissing. I could not believe in just a moment that motherly love just transformed into an aggressive, hissing, attacking behavior. kittens will still go to her and she will chase them away. she lives in the same area as her kittens but does not want them near her. I need to know how I can help her to go back to her original motherly loving behavior towards her kittens. I have a 6 compartment feeding tray and they all eat from the same plate but the mother does not want t play with her kittens anymore. Please help. now kittens are 9 month old and are wonderful playful cats.

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Give them all a bath. They picked up all the scents from the Vets and don't smell right anymore with all those other animal scents on them. Once they smell right again there should be no problem anymore. By the way that can take a little while for them to get back to their regular smell.

Same problem here. All spayed and neutered but mamma cat hisses.and growls and swats at her 9mnth old kittens and has been doing so increasingly so over the last few months. I'm guessing it's just normal behaviour as in the wild she would be chasing them away by now? Will this stop? She gets very jealous if one of the kittens comes close whilst she is being petted. She has also become much more affection and clingy with us the last few weeks.

FunnyFaceFamily said:

Same problem here. All spayed and neutered but mamma cat hisses.and growls and swats at her 9mnth old kittens and has been doing so increasingly so over the last few months. I'm guessing it's just normal behaviour as in the wild she would be chasing them away by now? Will this stop? She gets very jealous if one of the kittens comes close whilst she is being petted. She has also become much more affection and clingy with us the last few weeks.

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My experience with moms and their kittens is that things fluctuate over time. Some become best friends, some tolerate each other and some just never really like each other that much. I currently have 2 mom kitten pairs in the house. The moms are 8 years old and are litter mates. The "kittens" are 7. One mom and her boy are best friends. They are always together. She is a lot smaller than him and yet he allows her to scold him. She will put her paw on his head and push him down if he gets to annoying. But he comes to her rescue if any others pick on her. In something I had never seen before her boy got into a real fur pulling brawl with a cat that is usually outside and his mom jumped into the brawl to help him. Fortunately it only lasted a few seconds but they were both ready to go after the other cat. Usually cats are solitary fighters but these two were doing a tag team thing. The other mom used to be really close with her kitten but over time has come to treat her the same as any other. So they are not close but the also don't fight. The two moms/litter-mates are still friends and don't fight and sometimes sit together but the one mom doesn't like the other mom's kitten. Who like's who at what time tends to get complicated. I also have another mom kitten couple that are outside cats. They often hang together but her boy kitten is very shy and timid and she goes off hunting and exploring and he stays close to the house. But they never fight with each other.
Something about the 2 inside mom's I watched the other day that I found interesting. I watched a YouTub cat video that had some little kittens crying for their mom. They were doing that kitten in distress cry. Both of my moms got very upset and agitated and started looking for the kittens. None of the other cats who had not been moms were interested or bothered by it but these 2 former moms, who had their last kittens 7 years ago responded to that kitten needs help call. They kept looking and even vocalizing in response until I stopped the video. Once a mom always a mom I guess.